By the Moonlight
by thespace-dragon
Summary: Lucy was a scarlet ghost prowling through the city. Emotions were cut off; it wasn't the time nor place. A horse stood ready, the stable hand asleep on a bale of hay. She swung into the saddle. The carriage roared by and she kicked the horse into a gallop after it, chasing it as a cloud passed over the moon, taking the moonlight with it. Assassin!Lucy AU, TW: Slight Gore Language


**Hey everyone! I'm baaacckkk, and with another story again. OTL If you were to look on my profile you will see that my one non-FT fic has been put on hiatus. I swear it's not abandoned, just.. I have nothing for it. For those who are reading and waiting for me, I am so sorry...**

 **On a lighter note~ Here's my Assassin!Lucy oneshot! A friend of mine, illustraice, put the bug in my ear and wouldn't leave me alone about it, so here it is, in all its glory. And fun fact: THERE'S ART! It's the lovely cover image btw (;**

 **The art has also been posted on tumblr! xD Please check it out, Ice needs all the love she can get people!**

 **Anyways, to the fic!**

* * *

 **By the Moonlight**

Red.

Every inch of the pave stones were coated in nothing but red. Its metallic smell filled the air, it ran its way through the cracks. The man's body twitched as it died, muscles spasming, the loss of his bowels permeated the air, hanging heavily in the alley.

This last target had been an old man, promising riches beyond her imagination. All of her victims begged for her to let them live but she had been trained to ignore their pleas. For she was an assassin, the terror of the night for the rich and greedy. It angered her master, but she had no need for all of the money she was paid. She kept enough to get by comfortably, but that was all. She was paid very handsomely for killing the corrupt leaders in the city, yet she gave most of her money back to the poor.

The stench of blood, urine and feces mixed together as they drifted towards away through the sewer drain. Clouds passed in front of the moon, darkening the alleyway they were in. She knelt down and cleaned her knife on the target's overcoat. She had been careful to keep her boots from getting covered in the mess.

The assassin rose, sheathing the knife on the inside of her forearm. Glancing back one last time at her victim, he was to be left hidden away in the alley for the city guard to find in the morning. The clouds broke and moonlight lit up the city in its pale light. The target's face was warped into shock and terror, his mouth gaped opened as if he had been shouting out for help, eyes staring off into nothing; glassy and blank.

Lucy grinned. The sight before her brought nothing but glee. She had done the city a favor, one less power hungry man in charge to destroy the city. Her target had been a man by the name of Igneel Dragneel. He had been the head of a conglomerate that supplied the city with weapons. It was rumored that he had been pocketing money from all the deals he made by driving up the prices of his wares. Her master, Acnologia, had a personal vendetta against the man, but refused to act until there had been a solid reason to kill him. Once he had heard the information he had been waiting years for, he immediately contacted Lucy and told her it had to be done within the fortnight. It was only the day after she received her orders.

A sly smile spread across her face as she pulled up her hood and left the alley, her steps swift, carrying her to the edge of Crocus. A horse waited at a waystation and she tossed the stable hand a few gold Jewel and saddled up. Before he even had the chance to pocket the money, she was gone, disappearing into the forest surrounding the city.

* * *

"Well done, girl." Her master tossed her the money he had promised for the job.

Catching it easily, she stashed it away on her belt. It was the morning after. She had gotten to their meeting place well into the early morning hours and everyone had been asleep when she stabled her horse and slipped into the rundown manor.

"Is there anything else that needs to be done, sir?" she asked.

Acnologia waved her off and turned to face the window behind him, looking over the overgrown courtyard. "It will take a week or more for the scouts to turn up anything of use, remain hidden until I summon you."

"Yes, sir." She bowed and left the room.

Her master was strict and cold, but he had the city's betterment in mind. His methods were ruthless and unforgiving, and they got the job done. Lucy had been abandoned at this manor. Acnologia had come after her family, the Heartfilias', killing everyone. Her mother had already been dead for a long time, but her father had taken to corrupting the city, leading the charge for paid off politicians. Lucy had been old enough to understand that what her father had been doing was wrong in many ways, but still young enough to be molded to Acnologia's standards.

Now, thirteen years later, she was in her prime as an assassin and aiming to replace Acnologia once he retired. His age had already started to show, his mane of navy hair turning to a grey-blue. He never took kill missions over the last five years either, telling Lucy to do it, or getting one of his other apprentices to do it. The high priority targets were always given to Lucy, and out of the three assassins Acnologia had raised, she was the most effective killer he had trained to date.

She swiftly moved through the hallways towards her room, basking in her own glory. Being praised by Acnologia was no simple feat, but she had been more than aware of how important this mission was. Taking out Igneel was a major prerogative for their purpose. The city guards were all paid off by the higher ups and were always on the lookout. The more powerful the Council became in the city, the more the people suffered. Lucy seethed just thinking about it. All their fancy clothes, the feasts where half of the food was wasted every other night. The lined pockets of the city guards boosted their egos and showcased their cruelty on the people for no reason other than crossing their path.

She gritted her teeth, her lips contorting into a snarl. Every time. Every time she was sent to the city she did so happily, anything to make the people's lives better.

Lucy swung open the door to her room and locked it as soon as she was inside. Weapons lined one of the walls, herbs, poisons and books lined the other. Her bed was situated in the corner, where she could see the window and the door. Other than walls being full to the brim, her room was bare, offering small signs of personality. Her bookcase upon first glance looked to a mess, but that was simply because of the herbs and poisons being organized by their potency, and the books ordered by their importance. It was chaos to anyone else, but to Lucy, it made perfect sense.

She unhooked her cloak and let it fall to the floor. It smelled of sweat and blood, in dire need of a wash. Next came her boots, still muddy from walking through the side streets. Slowly she took everything off until she was left standing in her undergarments and the hidden weapons she carried all over her body.

It was a complicated process to take off all of her knives and poisons. Some sheaths were coated with poison on the inside and if she nicked herself with the blade there was no saving her. She hung up everything on the wall, each having their designated place.

Fatigue washed over her as soon as she lifted the last set of throwing knives onto his hook. It had been a long night of watching the perimeter of the manor to make sure she wasn't followed, but it was the protocol, and there was no going against that. At least she had roughly a week to relax, but she needed sleep before anything.

* * *

A month passed, and everything was silent at the manor. Acnologia had yet to summon her, but he had allowed her to wander the city. This time, she didn't go into the local orphanages or abandoned buildings where the homeless slept. Over the course of time she had been waiting for another kill mission, she spent her boredom training with the other apprentices. Those apprentices, Sting and Rogue, had left her with broken knives and a sword to replace. Plus, after washing her cloak, she couldn't get the smell from her last kill out of it, thus she was left to purchase a new one. So while she was forced to go shopping, she could at least enjoy it and buy new clothes for her missions as well.

The tailors had been friendly and Lucy was enjoying herself so far. Sting was accompanying her while Rogue was sent to a nearby town to track down one of the Council members. Word had spread across the city that there was a price on his head, and the city had riled against him. Now he was on the run. Rogue wouldn't be back for another month.

She led the way to her favorite weapons shop, Sting following behind silently, upset over the last practice match he lost against her. The tailors would take a week to finish their work but she would need help to carry all the weapons she needed. Discreetly.

It was a small shop, but it was of the highest quality in her opinion. The weapons she broke were from another smith. He had charged the same amount of money as this smith, but his product was far from being the same quality. She only bought from him because this smithy had been closed that day.

They entered the shop and was greeted by a pink haired man. He flashed her a wide smile, welcoming her into his shop. Lucy was a regular here, but she had never given her name, despite knowing his. Natsu was a brilliant smith and was unaffiliated with any of the Council members or the city guard. He could be trusted not to tell anyone that young woman was buying weapons. Either way, she covered tracks and always brought one of the other apprentices with her.

"Hey there. Know what you're lookin' for?" Natsu asked, wiping his hands down with a soot-covered rag. How it managed to clean his hands when it was completely black was a mystery.

Lucy hummed as she perused his wares, inspecting the knives he offered.

"Knives and a sword."

She lifted a knife from the wall where he had them displayed, balancing it in her hand. It was a beautiful knife; she could see the many folds of steel in the blade. She wanted to test it.

"Brother."

She threw the knife with the speed of a viper, aiming for his neck. The smith yelled in shock, worried for Sting's life. It wasn't even worth the thought. Sting caught the knife by the handle a few inches away from her intended target. The knife had flown true, and Lucy didn't feel the need to throw it dozens of times before she had a grip on how it spun through the air.

"Was that necessary, Sister?" Sting growled.

Lucy smiled sweetly at him. "How does that knife feel? Does it meet our standards?" The brother and sister was an act, it allowed them to travel about the city with little notice.

Sting weighed the knife in his hand before tossing it back, mumbling his approval. She caught the handle as he did and put it on the counter in front of the smith while she turned back to examine more of his work. He stood there gaping while he should have known that something like this would have happened. The two of them came in here and threw things at each other two or three times before they completed their purchases. This was nothing new.

About an hour passed, and Lucy had finally moved onto looking at swords. A dozen knives lay on the counter in front of Natsu, and quietly he was counting everything up. She was the only person who kept his shop running, and over the past two years, he had crafted his weapons to her specifications. He had seen her sneer at a piece he had been particularly proud of, telling him that it was uneven and the blade too long for the handle. Slowly but surely she had taught him how to better his craft. Now everything he created was top tier and could possibly be labeled as the best in Crocus.

A hilt appeared in front of him, startling him out of his reverie.

"I think we have everything we need. What's it all together?" The pretty blonde asked, batting her eyelashes sweetly.

"Oh, um, 13,000 Jewel. I can toss in another knife for free if that suits you?" Natsu gauged her expression as she mulled it over.

She turned to her brother and asked, another sweet smile on her face, "Brother, pick something out for yourself. My treat."

The man rolled his eyes but turned to the wall of knives regardless. These siblings really didn't get along well, did they? The lady in front of him clearly was the elder of the two.

Natsu grabbed sheaths and belts for the knives and sword. The woman placed a pouch of Jewel on the counter as he did so.

"I'll have someone come by and pick all these up later. Have a nice day!"

Before he could even count back her change, they were gone, the door creaking shut behind them. It was the way it was always done. She would pick out too many things to carry, over pay, and leave before he could even say thank you.

Still, she kept him going. His little blacksmith was run down and her purchases were helping to rebuild the whole building; slowly but surely. The extra change she gave went to the neighbors. They had two children and weren't working. Food was hard to come by in these parts, and though Natsu ate well for the area, meals were limited to once a day, twice if he was lucky.

He rearranged everything on the counter and decided to close up the shop. There wasn't going to be any more business today, he was too far removed from the main part of the city to generate any more customers. It was close to the time he had to meet the guards anyway.

Natsu's father had been missing for weeks now, no trace. Some of the guards had mentioned having found a body, but it was so mangled that they couldn't even tell who it was. Judging by the sun, it was time to meet them anyway. He steeled himself for nothing new. It wouldn't do to get his hopes up and return home depressed.

Throwing the deadbolt across his door, Natsu grabbed his cloak and left through the back of the shop. Nothing like an early evening stroll.

* * *

Lucy clasped her around her neck and prepared to leave. New orders have come in. Apparently Igneel's son has been placed under arrest for the murder of his father. Acnologia, as much as he hated the Dragneels, felt obligated to retrieve Igneel's son and provide him a living outside of Crocus, or to employ him. From the information he has gathered about the family, it was only Igneel who was feeding the under-handed ways of the Council. His son had nothing to do with any of those deals; he didn't even live with Igneel in the first place. He lived with his brother for a time before he moved out and began to run his own blacksmith.

It was a double team mission. She and Sting had been ordered to take out the prison guard and save the Dragneel boy. Why he was the only one who was arrested sent up red flags for Lucy. As far as she knew, it was the younger brother who was arrested, and the oldest still lived in the city. It was strange that only one of them had been taken into custody. She double checked her hidden blades before she left the manor. Sting had already left her Acnologia's instructions to scout the area before they both infiltrated the prison to free this man.

Two hours passed and Lucy found Sting lounging on a rooftop overseeing the prison.

"What do you know?" she asked, standing next to him.

Sting shrugged, not bothering to stand up. "They began to torture him about an hour back. Something about needing him to craft weapons for the Council."

Lucy narrowed her eyes at the guards that were standing at the entrance, flitting to the ones on the corner, and on the roof. "Torture? What possessed them to do that?"

Sting glanced at her before sighing and standing up. "No one ever knows why these sick fucks do half the things they do. For all I know they thought it would be fun," he grumbled.

"Any sign of his brother? He's still in the city, and word should have reached him."

"He hasn't been seen since you offed their old man."

She hummed in agreement. "Well, we best get started then."

With that, they were off, silent shadows flying through the night. Throwing knives flicked through the darkness, the moonlight catching their reflections briefly. They sank deep into their target, killing them within moments.

Lucy whirled, blades soaked in poison and blood, striking any guard down. With a leap, she cut off the head of the last guard in front of the main entrance. Her boots squelched on the cobblestones and blood ran down her blades. Sighing dejectedly, she wiped the blood on her cloak. Another thing she will have to replace.

Sting trotted up to her, slightly out of breath. He had taken the guards on the outside perimeter, giving Lucy an opening before climbing to the roof. Their bodies hung off the sides, throats slit and eyes glazed. Every man bore a shocked look on their face, none of them had expected to die tonight.

"No one raised the alarm, yes?"

"None of 'em muttered a peep, Princess."

Lucy rolled her eyes, ignoring the nickname. "Let's go, before the next shift arrives."

"Yes'm."

They made their way into the building. Now it was a game of cat and mouse. The torture chamber wasn't hard to find; screams could be heard throughout the hallways. Sting led the way, pausing at every corner to look for more guards before moving on.

Three times they had to duck into a storage closet or washroom to avoid being spotted. It didn't necessarily slow their progress but was merely an inconvenience. Eventually, they reached the source of all the screams. Yelling could be heard through the door, drowning out the pleas of who they were torturing. Each shout was followed by the crack of a whip.

Lucy felt her anger simmer under her skin, her whole body was alive and calling for her to break down the door. The cries for the man to stop the whip. Her jaw clenched as she listened to everything that came through the door.

"We need to stop this," she whispered to Sting.

He silently nodded and moved across the hall, positioning himself to break the door. Lucy stayed crouched next to the door, giving him a count. She ticked off each finger, timing it with steps of a guard on the other side. His pacing marking when he would be in front of the door. She hit zero and signaled Sting.

The door splintered under the force of his boot and Lucy flew into the room, throwing knives at every person in her line of sight.

 _Crack!_

Her wrist flared with pain, and she found it wrapped with the end of the whip. She followed it up to the man who led the torture session. A bloody back and lank pink hair filled her vision. The anger that was simmering just moments before came to a full boil and she yanked on the whip, dragging the man towards her.

"You have made a grave mistake," she hissed.

Like a leopard, she pounced. The guard never stood a chance against her.

Pulling on the whip again, she latched onto his arm and threw him into the wall. A quick twist of his arm and she dislocated his shoulder, breaking his wrist as well. The whip was slashed in the blink of an eye, its end still wrapped around her arm. She spun into a low kick, knocking the torturer off his feet. Lucy wasted no time with her transition from the kick to rising up and stomping on the man's neck. She drew her sword and pinned one of his hands to the ground.

A gargled scream met her ears, and she smiled serenely. She leaned down closer to him, a sweet smile on her face, but her eyes hard and glinting in the torch light.

"Scream as much as you would like, sir. Recognize the pain you are feeling…take it in…" she murmured lowly. Her boot dug into his throat and she twisted her sword in his hand.

He screamed and tried to squirm out from under her weight, but she held firm, not allowing a single inch of movement.

"Y-you…bitch…!" he spat.

"So there is some fight in you?" she tutted. "You mustn't speak to a lady like that in any case."

Lucy increased the pressure on his throat, slowly cutting off his air supply. A manic pleasure lit up her entire being as she watched him struggle weakly. Bit by bit, his movements stilled and before long, his eyes matched the other guards the littered the room.

A hand dropped on her shoulder and she reacted without thinking. She pinned them to the wall, a knife at their throat, and her teeth bared in a feral snarl.

"Get a hold of yourself. This isn't a time to give into your bloodlust, Princess."

She blinked, her rationale coming back as fast as it had left. Wrapped in her hatred for anyone working for the Council, she had unknowingly attacked Sting. Lucy pulled away and sheathed her knife.

"My apologies, I lost myself for a moment."

Sting waved her off. "Forget about it, your blade has been at my throat more times than I can count. Just find the one with the keys so we can get him out of here."

A groan came from the wall beside him. The skin and muscles on his back were a terrible mess, but the pink hair gave him away. Lucy's eyes widened in recognition, a small gasp escaping her.

"It's been him? This whole time?" she asked.

Sting shoved past her and began searching the guard she just suffocated to death. "Now's not the time to get caught up in that! We need to get him down and take him back to the manor. Before he bleeds out."

Stiffly she turned away from Natsu. Lucy couldn't believe he was Igneel's son and she had been buying weapons from him this whole time. The information Acnologia gave her this evening came back to her in pieces. He was Igneel's son. He was a blacksmith. He lived with his brother for most of his life. He started his own blacksmith on the outskirts of Crocus. His workshop wasn't affiliated with Igneel's.

"Lucy!"

Still shaken, she turned back to Sting. He had found the keys and unchained the smith from the wall. Sting's pauldrons and greaves glinted in the firelight and Lucy just realized that he had wrapped Natsu in his cloak.

"Lucy, get it together! We have to get out of here. Now isn't the time to be fucking spacing out!" he barked.

Her cool was broken. This was the first time she had known a target personally. She had never experienced this before. All this time she had been able to coolly distance herself from who she was killing. She had never known them outside of the crimes they committed and how they forced the people of the city to pay for it. It was justified killing. But the man they just saved from needless torture was the son of their biggest enemy, the enemy she killed a month ago.

Damn it, she didn't know how to deal with this. _What was going on? Why was it him?_

"LUCY!"

"What!?"

"Get your head out of the fucking clouds and help me!" Sting was struggling under Natsu's weight.

Lucy shot forward to catch his other side before Sting ended up dropping him.

They left the room soaked in blood. The hallways were silent now that Natsu's torture had stopped.

The silence made both of them uneasy, and Natsu's moans of pain forced them to hurry their steps. A carriage was waiting for them now. They had spent too much time in the prison rescuing him.

They reached the main entrance, and they still didn't come across anyone. Something was not right. They hadn't killed all the guards, so where were they?

Lucy grunted as she shouldered all of Natsu's body mass. Sting stepped away and went to check the entrance. Cautiously, he searched the area. After a moment and still no sign of anyone coming after them, he waved her forward.

She took two steps before everything fell apart.

As Sting turned to help her with Natsu, an arrow pierced his throat.

He struggled to breathe and he began to hack blood. It spilled from his mouth and down his neck. For the first time in her life, Sting looked scared.

He reached out to her, his hand trembling. Sting's fingers brushed the front of her cloak seconds before his eyes dulled and he slumped to the ground, lifeless.

It all happened in seconds, but it felt like an eternity to Lucy.

As Sting's body hit the ground, she jumped to the side as another arrow embedded itself in the ground where she had just been standing.

She had to deal with this. Of course Sting had to go and get himself killed.

Lucy lowered her charge to the ground and unsheathed her sword and her knife. Natsu's eyes flickered open.

He looked around and found Lucy standing in front of him, bathed in moonlight, her weapons shining with blood, her long blonde hair flowing in the wind. There was no mistaking her, but he was bound to find out who she was eventually.

"Y-you're that…that lady…" His voice was raw from screaming for hours and it barely came out as a whisper.

Lucy had been eyeing the squadron of guards that were filling the prison's courtyard with a cold fury when Natsu spoke from behind her.

She glanced over her shoulder and smiled. "Don't move. This will be over soon and I'll take you to a healer."

Natsu gaped at her, nodding. In a flash, she was off, a whirlwind of bright steel.

Her dual-wielding of a sword and knife was an amazing technique. It was Acnologia's preferred style, and Lucy was the silver death just like he had been. Guards fell before one by one, dying instantly or collapsing in pain as they bled out. The courtyard was stained crimson with all the blood that flowed. In the middle of it all, like an angel being welcomed to hell, Lucy continued to slash and stab at every man in her way.

When the final few dropped their weapons and ran, scared out of their minds, she finally stopped. Lucy panted and stood there, waiting to for anyone else to come and interrupt her mission. Blood had spattered all over her, and her face had streams running down her cheeks. Her weapons dripped steadily, creating puddles of blood on either side of her.

Her clothes were heavy with it, her skin sticky. Lucy took a deep breath and raised her face to the moon. Its full face looked down on her, emotionless. She closed her eyes, tears escaping from the corners as she allowed herself a moment to mourn Sting. He was...had been a brilliant assassin, deserving a better death than an arrow through his neck. The salt water left tracks down her face, mixing with the blood.

Lucy gathered herself and turned to face the door of the prison. Natsu was still hidden. Good, he could listen. She sheathed her weapons, not even bothering to clean them. She could tend to them when she was back at the manor.

Horseshoes on cobblestone and a rattling carriage filled the night air. She turned from the entrance and faced the carriage stoically. It screeched to a halt a few yards from her. The door opened and Acnologia stepped out. He looked around and assessed the damage she and Sting had created. Bodies were everywhere, blood coated everything.

He looked at her with his bright blue gaze. "Where is Sting?"

"Dead." She sounded so empty.

"And the Dragneel boy?"

"Just inside the door. He is wounded but he should live if he gets treatment."

Acnologia walked past her, however she was frozen on the spot.

Everything came crashing down on her again. She thought that she had everything in place. She was an assassin. An assassin that would follow in Acnologia's footsteps, his legacy as the underground hero that everyone found as a villain.

"Rogue, grab the boy. We shall head back to the manner." Acnologia's voice was gruff, clipped even.

A shadow whisked past her as well. She still hadn't bothered to move. Lucy looked over her shoulder and saw Acnologia kneeling beside Sting's body and Rogue hauling Natsu over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, not even caring about his lashes.

Acnologia caught her stare. A moment passed before he nodded and Lucy felt herself finally move. She strode past the carriage and made her way to the outskirts of Crocus. She wouldn't be riding in the carriage on the way back to the manor. Natsu would be taken care of there for healing, and that would be where she would meet Acnologia and Rogue to debrief about the mission.

Lucy was a scarlet ghost prowling through the city. Emotions were cut off; it wasn't the time nor place.

A horse stood ready, the stable hand asleep on a bale of hay. She dropped a few gold Jewel into his upturned hat before swinging into the saddle. The carriage roared by and she kicked the horse into a gallop after it, chasing it as a cloud passed over the moon, taking the moonlight with it.

* * *

 **How did yall like it? It's my first time working with so much blood and this amount of action paced for such a short fic when I'm used to multichaps. Hope it turned out ok. Let me know what you think in a review!**

 **Remember the art will be on tumblr soon, so if you follow me, check it out!**

 **Until next time,**

 **Mogi**


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